Game: Skyrim

[Ryllharu]

Also, talk about skeletons in the closet. My Lydia died several days ago in some dark dank cave. Then her body appeared out of the blue in my spare bedroom in Whiterun, complete with all the equipment she was carrying. I stripped her corpse for equipment to enchant.

I got a weirder one than that. I wish I had grabbed a screenshot of it. One of the major characters that dies in a faction storyline appeared halfway in the ground, ghosting/coasting through it as I was running to another unrelated quest. I check back at the base, and he's alive and well again! He's even conversing with the other faction members.

I may have to use the "kill" console command on him, for continuity.


Note: I also had non-stop, unfixable CTDs in Bonechill Pass. It happens every time, and apparently I'm not the only one to get it. I had to use the noclip "tcl" console command to avoid the place and get to the dragon wall that the pass gives you access to. Apparently, you can look at your feet to make it through. The game will crash when a certain object comes into view. Windowed mode may also fix this.

[Splash!]

I mentioned the silver hand quests but that was when my level was in the early 20's. Helped me go from about 7k to 15k. But that was me just being real meticulous about picking up every scrap of loot during those quests. Since then, I have made a lot more money by power leveling my enchanting skill and selling all my enchanted daggers. I have heard from other people that the Dark Brotherhood pays really well though, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

On the topic of money, I seem to be suffering from a glitch that prevents me from receiving my payments for thieves guild missions. It started when I finished this quest for a guy that asked me to find a set of 4 journals.

[Buffalobiian]

The Thieve's guild initially paid me 300 gold per task. It was then upped to 350 gold per task. I'm not sure if it's because I have some sort of item equipped though..

The Dark Brotherhood pays 600 gold initially for cheap murders (go somewhere, kill this guy, come back for gold types). Not sure about the more involved ones where you actually go meet your client and discuss exactly how they want your murders to happen. I'm about to go on mine.

For those of you who made the choice to kill someone to get into the Dark Brotherhood, who did you kill? I thought the mercenary was doing his job, the bitch in the middle was annoying as fuck but didn't mention anything worth condemning her for.. and I snapped at the "Defiler of daughters" even though he was a fellow Khajiit.

Oh, and Astrid > Vex. She's not annoying and rude as hell, though her husband is. It's funny how the Thieve's Guild is always complaining about how badly they're doing, yet every time I see them they're all sitting at the bar..

edit: everybody must read both volumes of the Lusty Argonian Maid. Full set can be found in Riften -> Haelga's Bunkhouse -> Room behind counter -> bedside table.

[Xelbair]

Buff - simple answer - every one of them. i had no idea who was the real target so that was the best option to ensure that I've got him/her.
I've read the argonian maid in oblivion. Polishing the spear, eh?
PROTIP: do not lie about cash in the dark brotherhood, it is worth it to say the truth.

[TwisT]

I get 500 for each task from The Thieves Guild. I pick up one from Vex and one from Devlin then jsut fast track out and do them both and fast track back. Not even 5 min time. So thats 1000 gold. And there seems to be an infinite rotating quest cycle of those. And i have only done 1 quest for them so far.

Don't remember where i got it but i got 1500 from some quest that was repeatable. Think it might have been The Dark Brotherhood after finishing everything. Hail Sithis!

[Animeniax]

Dang, I thought there was an easy foolproof set of quests to get gold from. The house in Solitude is 25k!! My best gold was from some daedric quest where the area was strewn with already killed corpses, each yielding 25-125 gold, mostly around 100 gold each.

Also, another glitch: while doing some quest, I ran into two NPCs from the main storyline (you're supposed to meet up with them somewhere). They immediately start following me, even though we're nowhere near the agreed upon meeting place, so besides my usual companion Mjoll the Lioness (best follower in the game as far as I've seen) and the follower I got from the quest I was on, I had 4 high level NPCs running through this quest with me, kicking everything's ass that got in our line of sight. Unfortunately it was cramped quarters so they ended up hitting each other and then fighting until we entered a new area and they'd stop attacking each other.

I didn't want to risk messing up the main quest so I reloaded and avoided running into the two.

[TwisT]

When i did one of the Daedric quests, you where to follow the dog Barbos. Once you had reached the area, he gave you the quest to take Barbos with you as you fetched an item. Then i got Barbos + my companion. And Barbos turned out to be immortal. And i don't mean he could be harmed and then after a while got up with full health. I mean he could take unlimited punishment. And he loved to trap me in corners. Once i got so furious so i started cutting him over and over. Probably like 10-15 slashes before he became hostile and i could see his healthbar. Turned out he never lost any HP no matter how much i hit him. So either he has 100 million hp or he has 100% damage reduction. Anyways i used him to do many quests as he was a great tank. But he always blew my hiding so eventually i just finished the quest.

I heard from a friend that Aranea is one of the best companions out there. You get here if you complete the Daedric quest of Azura. She's a mage to begin with so she will summon a Flame Archnoth (whatever the name is) by her own. So you can summon one too to make a pretty good army. Also with full Dragon Scale armor she becomes a good tank. She have only gotten beaten once and i was quick with my healing other spell so she was down for like 3 seconds. When i had Lydia who was in full Dragonbone armor she got beaten several times and once she even died (although i reloaded). Also giving Aranea staffs made her a nuking machine. 2 staffs of Fireball and she nuked at least 1 each second. Killed off entire rooms in a matter of seconds.

[Splash!]

I was complaining about lack of money early on, but I seem to have resolved the problem.

Kill more dragons and giants, and do as many Words of Power quests as you can. There is usually alot of high quality loot right next to shout locations. At level 31, I have about 40k on hand and a chest full of items worth just as much, if not more. And I spend money all the time on Grand Soul gems and smithing raw materials. I am probably going to buy my second house when I have about 60k

It really helps if you have some bartering perks or enchantments. My character is bout 40 in speech, and gets 40% better prices with bonuses.

[Penner]

I took off all my equipment when i ran about town doing various menial tasks and ran close to a child and she just blurted out "NAKED! NakedNakedNaked!"

Made me laugh a little :P

[Animeniax]

Have you guys killed anyone in the game just on principle?

So far: Debane (a-hole beggar), the Talos priest who yells at everyone who passes by in Whiterun, and everyone in the cannibal coven, which unfortunately means I miss out on some small quests.

[Ryllharu]

There's a wizard's son (who was also a wizard, and a douchebag) in Markath that I murdered, just because his father was being a dick and wanted to send me on a fetch quest instead of letting me just pay gold for his research. It's not exactly an unforced encounter, but I totally murdered all his guards too. I definitely could have snuck past all of them, but the level of arrogance in that family demanded a whole lot of throat slicing.

But since things started to get trivially easy with the Level 38 Huntress, I switched to the Level 13 Shield-Maiden for a while. Now I'm constantly getting my ass kicked when I have to fight more than one guy at a time (3+ is a total nightmare). Blocking both of them works for a while, but when I go to kill one guy, the other flanks me and then the two slaughter me in no time. I've got better equipment than them (Exquisite Plate Steel and orcish weapons versus their fur armor and Iron/Steel weapons).

Any advice? This is really frustrating coming off of an Archer/backstab character. I never had these problems with Fallout melee/unarmed characters either.

[koppayana]

I've pretty much killed almost everyone that lives alone in random houses. Getting stage 4 vampirism sucks T-T.

I find enchanting weapons i make while leveling blacksmithing a good way to make some cash and exp. Already bought the house in Solitude and sitting between 50k-55k.

[Buffalobiian]

I kill people for sport. Random houses, Imperial + Stormcloak camps, Whiterun guards because they left me to die that time.

The orphanage lady (Gerral the Kind) was killed mostly out of principal too. She was a complete asshole to the kids. I haven't otherwise met that many people though.. I think I've spent most of my lvls dungeon-prowling more than anything.

Sometimes the NPC's attitudes are funny. The War Maiden fellow in Whiterun always starts off going "I should slam your face in after all you've done" or something, but goes into a cheerful mood as soon as I actually start interacting with him with the E button. Cicero too. That guy claims to remember every single face. He remembered that we met on the road. He remembered that I framed him in front of a guard. He seemed to forget that I beat him to near death nearly 5 times.

As for random bodies, I haven't encountered anything other than a body of a Hunter dropping down from the skies one time as I exited the Dark Brotherhood hideout.

Oh, and body-hugging Assassin armour ftw!

[Kraco]

The shopkeepers pay ridiculously low if you don't have any perks in Speech (like I don't). They pay 100 golds for an item they then sell for 1200 golds. Zenithar's +10% doesn't seem to make that much difference. Yet I wouldn't really want to use perks for anything else but combat (including sneak) and smithing related. Monsters and other villains are just so tough in Skyrim.

[Animeniax]

@Ryllharu: you mean the mage researcher in the dwarven ruins? He's actually really nice and useful, just too absorbed in his work, like many academics, so he comes off as abrupt and assholish. But he's a great source for soul gems and the arcane enchanter is right there too. He also has some quests for you to complete, with healthy gold rewards.

I can't help with the shield-maiden troubles. Maybe get the unrelenting shout up and use perks to add stagger to attacks, that way you can stagger one while you attack the other? Or you might have to keep a bow to attack from range.

I've got enchanting up to 82, perked smithing to 100% improved, and have 4 pieces of equipment that grant 20% bonus to blacksmithing, and a philter and draught of blacksmithing. I'm going to see how strong the dragon scale armor I make can be.

[Xelbair]

Ryll - melee is easy, especially with shield and 1h weapon, wanna few tips?
1) do not keep blocking constantly - block only when there is incoming blow coming and it is not power attack.
2) shield bash is great, use it for a 1s stun on enemy
3) press attack, then before attacks finishes use power attack - you will do normal and power attack without any delay between them, and power attack gives cool short stun too
4)restoration magic, use it.
5) when enemy is blocking with weapon, keep using normal attacks and when he wants to swing bash him with shield - when he's blocking he keeps getting stunlocked, and when he attacks you stun him with shield.
6) slow time shout is your best friend(i can kill dungeons boss before it ends right now, and even before he hits me even once).
7) use heavy armor - just because Deadric Set looks so damn good.

[Ryllharu]

Ryll - melee is easy, especially with shield and 1h weapon, wanna few tips?
1) do not keep blocking constantly - block only when there is incoming blow coming and it is not power attack.
2) shield bash is great, use it for a 1s stun on enemy
3) press attack, then before attacks finishes use power attack - you will do normal and power attack without any delay between them, and power attack gives cool short stun too
4)restoration magic, use it.
5) when enemy is blocking with weapon, keep using normal attacks and when he wants to swing bash him with shield - when he's blocking he keeps getting stunlocked, and when he attacks you stun him with shield.
6) slow time shout is your best friend(i can kill dungeons boss before it ends right now, and even before he hits me even once).
7) use heavy armor - just because Deadric Set looks so damn good.

I already do almost all those things. The slow time shout is the only one I don't (because I haven't gone looking for it yet). Fighting one enemy is a piece of cake that way.

(edit: I melee dragons with no problem using those techniques.)

I have problems with multiple enemies at the same time. Those tips don't work as well against Bandit Outlaws and Bandit Chiefs, which I always seem to encounter at the same time. They always flank me. Especially once I start going on the offensive. I go to finish off the chief and one of their lackeys runs me through with a greatsword while I'm doing it. Yes I'm wearing heavy armor, and I focus in Restoration. Shield bash is one of the only things I can use to get the bandits to stop blocking.

(edit: maybe I just need a follower at all times.)

[Animeniax]

If you haven't done the thieves guild main quest, you'd better figure out how to handle multiple high level mobs attacking at the same time before you do. You get attacked by 3 draugr death lords, 2 draugr wights, and at least an ice atronach all at once a few times. You have a high level quest follower, but I always have to summon a daedra to help or we'd have a much harder time.

[Buffalobiian]

If you haven't done the thieves guild main quest, you'd better figure out how to handle multiple high level mobs attacking at the same time before you do. You get attacked by 3 draugr death lords, 2 draugr wights, and at least an ice atronach all at once a few times. You have a high level quest follower, but I always have to summon a daedra to help or we'd have a much harder time.

How far into the Thieve's Guild quest is this? I've halted it for now (I just finished burning the bee hives) to do some exploring, and find the Dark Brotherhood.

And now that I've finished that part, I really liked it. (Dark Brotherhood spoilers below):

Always thought Astrid was somewhat eager to hold onto her leading position, which was why I had my doubts about Cicero and decided to let him go. He was only serving Mother anyway - in the best manner he thought.

I thought I didn't really care for the Dark Brotherhood, but I actually ran back as fast as I could after hearing about how it's getting attacked. I don't think I would actually give a shit if the same thing happened to the Thieve's Guild which I joined before that.

Even sympathised with Astrid.. and went on a hunt to kill the General and the Emperor out of rage more so than anything. (The red effects of the Blade of Woe enhanced that feeling). W

hen it was all done and over, I had a look in the Dawnstar sanctuary for Cicero, but couldn't find him. As I left and wondered what could have happened to him, he pops up and tells me he wants to become Listerner instead. He was right on the mark about my face change. My eyes must have quite literally narrowed as I adjusted my grip on my blade mouse.

The latter part of that arc was pretty emotionally involved for me. Now I've got a trusty steed and a companion to remind me of it. (Cicero's the first person who I actually want to keep as a companion. He's not a boring "Yes master" warrior, and can actually sneak without giving me away). I'll be relocating from Halted Stream Camp to Dawnstar Sanctuary shortly. That place even has visual and aural entertainment in the form of a torture chamber.

-The latter part of that arc also mucked up my play style though.. I had a bounty in Solitude from a prior encounter, but I decided to leave it to create a better atmosphere. Instead of walking on the streets unharmed before attacking the dude's son, it meant that I had to sneak in under darkness and actually kill off any guards that discovered me since they're all pumped and out to get me. My bounty in that hold went up to 6K+. But then came the Chef part, and I couldn't talk to the guy and request access with a bounty - so I ended up serving jailtime instead.

Seriously, people should not be able to recognise you if you have a mask on. That's.. the whole idea of them.

I think I'll just go back in with Cicero now and wipe the place clean.

[Splash!]

Are you talking about that quest with Mercer Grey? Cause I just did that yesterday, and I didn't find it all that difficult. Maybe it's just my play style that relies on restoration, one handed weapons and heavy armor. My restoration spells restore stamina too, so I am constantly sprinting around and delivering power hits. In rooms that have both a boss and multiple cannon fodder, I find that it helps to first use unrelenting force to incapacitate the boss, finish off the weaker enemies and then solely focus on the boss. You definitely don't want to turn your back on a Draugr Death Lord as they can use unrelenting force too.